It was a few days before Christmas 2021. Olive Mitchell was on winter break from the fifth grade and she wasn’t feeling well.
“She was bruising,” her mother Lauren Mitchell says. “Her bruises were really big and dark, and she was very pale and very tired.”
Lauren took Olive to the doctor. By the end of the day, she was in the hospital.
“Our world just exploded,” Lauren says.
A blood draw revealed dangerously low hemoglobin, white blood cells and platelet counts. Olive had to have an emergency blood transfusion. She received four units of blood, each essential to her survival.
Olive was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS. She is now in remission, and her mother has worked to organize a blood drive benefiting the Community Blood Center, set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 28, at Plymouth Church, 925 Vermont St. A few appointment slots remained as of Wednesday evening. You can make an appointment to donate at this link.
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